In Memoriam by Suzanne Jenkins

he was alone with Marcus, he took a closer look at him. The nurse said it was too early to tell what color his eyes would be, but Dan was sure they’d be black like his were. The baby looked exactly like him. The hair—wiry spikes—the ruddy complexion, also a baby thing according to the nurse, but Dan figured she’d never seen a native baby before. Even his little ears looked like Dan’s ears. All the poking around woke him up, and after a few seconds, the baby’s eyes focused on Dan’s face. Later, he would tell an unbelieving Lisa that Marcus stared right at him, made eye contact with him, grasping his finger with his tiny hand. He wished he’d had his phone so he could take a picture of it. His son knew who he was, an experience that would pull him into fatherhood so that later, when his patience with marriage was tested, he’d have the powerful love for his son to fall back on.
     
    ~ ~ ~
     
    Stuck in traffic for over four hours, Big Ed Ford finally arrived. Gladys was curled up on the couch with a book when she saw the car lights sweep the front of the house. She pushed the curtains aside excitedly. Hopping off the couch, she had the door open before he got to the porch.
    “They’re sleeping,” she whispered. “It’s been a long day around here.”
    “I’m sorry I’m so late,” he replied. “I almost gave up, traffic was that bad. Saturday getting into the city, I guess.”
    “Well, whatever, you’re here now.” She closed the door behind him, and as she turned around, he took her in his arms.
    “Boy, I don’t know how you feel about it, but I really missed you this week. I kinda think I like having you around more than I thought I would.”
    Gladys laughed. “Is that right?”
    Ed embraced her, kissing her neck. “So do we sleep together tonight, or is this all I’m getting?”
    “Shush, they’ll hear you,” Gladys said, giggling. “No, we get to sleep together in the den. The couch pulls out into a bed. As soon as Dan went to bed, I made it up for us.”
    “Well, let’s get going, woman. You must be beat, and I’m about ready to keel over. If there’s any action tonight it better happen in the next thirty minutes.”
    “Oh God, Ed, you’re wooing me with all your sweet talk. Their bedroom is right over the den, too, so keep it down.”
    “Just like at home,” he replied, laughing.
    After locking up for the night, they walked back to the den hand in hand.
     
    Baby Marcus woke up at midnight to eat. Lisa was sitting up in bed nursing when she heard the first sound. “Dan,” she whispered, waking him up.
    “What? Are you okay?”
    “Yes, but listen. What is that sound?”
    He sat up in bed and listened for minute, and it took him just a few seconds to figure it out. Snickering, he wagged his finger at her to get closer so he could whisper to her. “I think your mother-in-law has a visitor.”
    “Who? What does that have to do with it?”
    “It sounds like that old couch in the den is getting a workout,” Dan said. “Big Ed must have arrived.”
    “Oh no, I don’t want that in my head now! Is it even proper to do in other people’s homes?”
    Dan thought he might have found a reason for Lisa to send Gladys back to New Jersey. “Yes, what nerve,” he said, but then he laughed. “They’ve been apart all week, Lisa. I think it’s kind of nice. It gives me hope for us when we’re old.”
    But she wasn’t convinced. “I don’t want to know it if they’re doing it. I never had an inkling my mother and father were doing it! It’s supposed to be private.”
    “Kids know their parents have an intimate relationship. In some cultures, the whole family sleeps in the same room.”
    “Too bad,” Lisa replied. “My kids won’t know when we do it. It’s our private business. Now I feel guilty because my negativity is pouring down on Gladys and Ed when they’re trying to make love.”
    “Well, don’t get carried away, dear. It sounds like they’re fine.”
    The